The Sharks also welcome the return of Logan Couture, Raffi Torres and Tyler Kennedy on the trip. Couture missed 16 games following surgery to repair his injured right wrist. Torres was out the first 59 games of the season after knee surgery, and Kennedy missed the final five games before the break due to a lower-body injury.

Hoping for full health

"We've obviously battled all year long with different guys being out, and now we get them back," team captain Joe Thornton said. "To get the full unit out there is going to be exciting."

It's rare when a team reaches complete health, and the Sharks are no different. Defenseman Brad Stuart suffered an upper-body injury during the team's last game, a 3-2 win over Columbus, and didn't recover in time to join San Jose on the current trip. Matt Tennyson was recalled from Worcester of the AHL on Wednesday.

In addition, rookie Tomas Hertl continues to rehabilitate from early-season knee surgery. He's traveling with teammates for the first time and may start light skating on the trip.

"There's going to be more injuries going forward, probably," defenseman Dan Boyle said. "Some guys that are not up here anymore did an admirable job and got some games under their belt that's going to benefit them down the road."

With 23 games remaining and a majority of those on home ice after this trip, the Sharks hope to chase down Pacific Division-leading Anaheim, which holds a seven-point lead, has played one more game and faces San Jose twice more. Meanwhile, San Jose has a double-digit lead on Los Angeles, so home ice in at least the first round of the playoffs currently looks like a strong probability.

Return to form sought

The Sharks will look to get back on top of their game. San Jose was among the league's top scoring teams before Couture was injured, but dropped from an average of 3.3 goals during the 43 games with him in the lineup to 2.01 during the 16 he was out.

The Sharks' power play dipped, too, converting only one goal in 29 tries over the final nine games before the break.

"It feels like I haven't played in a long time, so I'm looking forward to getting back," Couture said. "You realize how much you miss it. I know going in I'm going to expect a lot out of myself, but we'll see how it goes."

Torres' return should spark a third line that will likely be centered by Pavelski, giving San Jose the kind of attack it envisioned since the end of last season.

"The thing that helped us down the stretch last year, and that helped us early this year, was our balance," Boyle said. "Although the guys who came in did an admirable job, I think going forward our balance is going to be the key in us being successful."